IB ChemistryStructure 33.23.2.10
3.2.10HL

¹H NMR Spectroscopy

Chemical shift, integration, and splitting patterns. Mapping the hydrogen skeleton.

🟣 This is Higher Level (HL) content.

Three Pieces of Information

Feature What It Tells You
Number of peaks Number of different hydrogen environments
Integration (area) Ratio of H atoms in each environment
Splitting pattern Number of H atoms on adjacent carbons (n+1 rule)

The n+1 Splitting Rule

A signal is split into (n+1) peaks, where n = number of H atoms on neighbouring carbons.

n (neighbours) Pattern Name
0 1 peak Singlet (s)
1 2 peaks Doublet (d)
2 3 peaks Triplet (t)
3 4 peaks Quartet (q)

Chemical Shift Ranges (δ / ppm)

Environment δ / ppm
R–CH₃ (alkyl) 0.9–1.0
R–CH₂–R 1.2–1.4
R–O–CH (near O) 3.3–4.3
R–CHO (aldehyde) 9.4–10.0
R–COOH (acid) 10.0–12.0
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